Monthly Archives: February 2016

“From the highest source of tantric authority we learn […] ‘To worship it, become it’ […] Without this ‘becoming’ there is no worship. There is no worship without. Worship without is a rite; it becomes a mere ritualistic form. The only worship, like love, must be a continuous, penetrating and merging flow of energy from within, from within to within. ‘Becoming it’ is the first demand for a successful prayer. It is the soul in shape. This is at the root of our worship of deities. […] It may be Kali, Mary, Buddha or Jesus. Unless a prayer makes the devotee ‘become’ it, the prayer has failed. It is like reciting a cook book in order to appease hunger.”

Sometimes, there might be particular personal/spiritual attributes we’re trying to develop, or life is persuading us to fine-tune. On those occasions, we can choose to work with the goddess that represents that quality. For example, in Doreen Virtue’s Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards, Bast is the Egyptian goddess of independence. Because independence is a skill that my life circumstances seem to be giving me time and space to learn, I sometimes meditate with the Bast card in my hand, so that I can pick up on the vibration of that particular goddess and the insights this can bring. By working with Bast energy, I’ve come to understand that my task is to learn how to be a whole person, able to function physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually as an autonomous being. This isn’t meant to be understood as an incitement to egoic separatism; quite the opposite. It’s my belief that all sentient beings and non-sentient forms are part of one Whole; the same Earth and universal energies flow through all of us. Independence, therefore, implies self-awareness, balance, inclusion, personal responsibility and unconditional love.

Excerpt from “She Who Is Unto Herself”

“Bastet shows us the eternal sacred quality of the feminine, along with the beauty of a feral protectress. She reminds us that solitude and independence shows strength, but also that unity in relations binds our souls.” Quote taken from: Gems of the Goddess on paganpages.org

What we know of human consciousness is likely to be only a fraction of what’s humanly possible. We seem to be mostly aware of the physiological and rational capacities of our human bodies and minds. Yet, I assume we’ve all heard the statistics about the tiny portion of our brains that we actually use, notwithstanding the fact that the remaining parts haven’t atrophied, which would plausibly be the case if they weren’t being utilized in some way – perhaps in a way that we’re not yet consciously aware of. Moreover, Tantra and Taoism suggest that each and every cell of the body has consciousness i.e. our organ of awareness is not solely the brain/mind. In Tantra, we’re encouraged to explore the elements of the human consciousness that are most evident, embodying and transforming our innate drives and responses rather than resisting or denying them; yet, at the same time, we’re asked to open ourselves to those areas of human consciousness that aren’t so readily accessible from the vantage point of ordinary awareness (the day-to-day rational/emotional state). As such, Tantra promotes the integration of body, mind and spirit. It rejects no facet of physicality i.e. Tantra neither negates nor dominates – attitudes that are typical of modernism.[1]Continue reading →